One thing that bothers me on the Plame hearing

[blues90]

I hear it said that the CIA told Novak not to print the story about Plame . So if the CIA just told Novak and trusted him isn't there something wrong with this picture ?

Shouldn't the CIA gathered up Novak to stop him from printing this story , after all the CIA is supposed to protect their agents at all costs ?

[Eric J in MN]

1. The CIA doesn't have the authority to arrest people in the US.

Also, it's debatable if Novak commited a crime.

Some argue that by writing about Valerie Plame and then by writing about her cover company, Novak has a pattern of outing CIA assets which is a crime.

[blues90]

10. Sure but my point is this is the CIA

They are supposed to protect their agents . Even the slightest chance of Novak or anyone else exposing any agent should have brough up a red flag and tha CIA could have taken Novak to the side and had a talk with him .

This small measure may have saved Plames career and foiled the admins plan . Hell we may not be in this Iraq mess right now .

Not that everything hinged on the Yellow cake but this did allow the mushroom cloud scare .

[whistle]

2. 007 would have shot Robert Novak for what he did

[leveymg]

3. You mean like, grabbing him on the street, drugging him, throwing him on a plane, and renditioning

him to a foreign country, and let them roast him in a pot of boiling water and then freeze him naked in a meat locker until he reveals his Little Green Footballs screen name?

Naw, we don't do anything like that. B-) :evilgrin: :mad: :spank: :wow: :grr: :nuke: :scared: :bounce:

[Spazito]

4. After requesting Novak not publish V. Plame's name, etc,...

and having to do so WITHOUT confirming she was covert which would, in turn, be a breach of the Intelligence Act, I have no doubt they were under the belief that Novak understood and was not going to publish just as the other, at least 5, journalists DID NOT touch the story. Until Novak and the CIA agent that spoke to Novak testify under oath, we won't know what was said by either the agent or Novak.

Edited to correct typo.

[Sparkly]

7. That's how I see it, too.

They didn't think they actually needed to spell it out. Who would get a warning from the CIA and ignore it?? (Oh yeah...)

Seems to me they had the impression Novak took their warning and wasn't going to publish her name. He may have placated them and said he understood. Maybe he understood and didn't care. Who knows?

[Skink]

5. You dare question the all powerful Novak

[Matariki]

6. I wonder how they knew it had been leaked to him before he published his article?

Valerie Plame said something that made it sound like she knew ahead of time too.

[benddem]

9. Novak called the CIA

to check the story. They told him not to print it...without telling him whether or not she was covert.

[DemReadingDU]

19. Yeh, I was wondering about that too

It appears the Wilsons somehow knew before Novak's article was printed, that they became aware that Novak was going to print something. It makes one wonder what additional steps should have been done to protect her name.

[magellan]

8. I'm still not sure how Novak managed to get off scot free in this

Wasn't he the first to put into print VPW's identity as a CIA agent? Maybe the CIA official who called to warn him not to do it ought to come forward, if s/he hasn't already.

[Spazito]

12. Novak did not break the law as long as he did not lie under oath

to either the FBI or the Grand Jury. The person or persons who broke the law were those who, within the government with the clearance to know Plame's status, leaked that information to anyone who did NOT have the security clearance necessary to be given that information as well as those who leaked it to Novak.

Novak is a disgusting POS but he did not break the law, he helped put the US in greater jeopardy by publishing V. Plame's identity and that of her cover agency and should be totally shunned by EVERYONE in the media, etc.

[magellan]

14. Even if he was told by the CIA not to print the details of Plame's identity?

See, that's what bothers me. If it's true someone at the CIA called him to tell him not to print that information and he did anyway, that seems like a crime as bad as giving him the classified information in the first place. The WH couldn't have effectively outed Plame without an accomplice in the media.

[Spazito]

16. I believe the CIA could only request he not reveal the information

and they would have to do that without revealing her covert status or anything related to it. What action they could have taken assuming Novak told the agent his intent to publish not only V. Plame's identity but also the name of her cover agency is, imo, an interesting question. Would the CIA have to refer the issue to the FBI as the investigative agency in the US and under what law could they request action.

The very fact Novak, after hearing from the CIA their request NOT to publish, went ahead and did so shows even more clearly, imo, the intention of the WH to blow her cover and that of her cover agency.

[magellan]

17. Agreed

Seems to me you'd have to be pretty comfortable with your connections to blow off a CIA request not to publish -- particularly under this regime, which hasn't hesitated to direct its wrath at journalists for other leaks. Not so in this case re Novak and the others. That in itself says a lot about where the information came from and who it benefited.

I honestly can't imagine why else a journalist would ignore a phone call from the CIA...unless you were just a total dope and didn't get the message being conveyed. And Novak has been hooked up with the government too long to plead that kind of stupidity.

[Spazito]

18. Yep, and specifically his long-time relationship with Karl Rove....

1992, Rove was fired from George H. W. Bush's 1992 presidential re-election campaign for allegedly leaking information to journalist Robert Novak. State campaign manager Robert Mosbacher had allotted Rove only one-quarter of the campaign's $1 million direct mail contract, after Rove had the entire contract in 1988. As Novak wrote, "Also attending the session was political consultant Karl Rove, who had been shoved aside by Mosbacher". Novak's column described the firing of Mosbacher by former Senator Phil Gramm. Novak and Rove deny that Rove was the leaker. Mosbacher maintains that "Rove is the only one with a motive to leak this. We let him go. I still believe he did it.". . .

http://prorev.com/bush3.htm

[Lena inRI]

11. Two mandatory witnesses Cong. Waxmen should subpoena. . .

1--NOVAK

2--CIA OFFICIAL(S) WHO TOLD HIM not TO PRINT Plame's NAME.

a NO-BRAINER. . .AND IF THEY TRY TO DODGE THE SUBPOENA, NAIL 'EM TO THE WALL OF PUBLIC SUSPICION.
:smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

[Missy Vixen]

13. The CIA could not confirm for him that she was covert

without blowing her cover.

Novak is a contemptible little man. I can only hope that he reaps the karma he's sown.

Julie

[Sydnie]

15. Rove probably already told Novak she was "fair game"

so he did it on Rove's say so.